Labor by Andrew Herod

Nearly two decades old, the field of labor geography has shaped the way we think about class and capitalism, demonstrating that attention to spatial dynamics can deepen understandings of increasingly global systems of production, distribution, and migration. Andrew Herod’s work was central to the emergence of this field and is largely responsible for its growing influence. As a dissenting voice within the academic community, he contended that geographers interested in economic issues had devoted too much attention to capital and needed to balance this by focusing on the impact that workers and their institutions have had on the geographic dimension of late capitalism. Through prolific publication (most notably his 2001 volume, Labor Geographies: Workers and the Landscapes of Capitalism) and an admirable willingness to engage with other social science disciplines, Herod has prompted scholars and activists to rethink the “labor question” in a way that allows for greater attention to both new forms of working people’s agency and spatial dynamics.His newest book, Labor, is the latest addition to a unique series on resources published by Polity Press. Previous volumes have included books on uranium, timber, fish, water, coffee, sugar, and oil. Yet, as Herod points out at the start of this study, labor is significantly different in character from these material resources, as it is not only an object but a subject—that is, unlike inanimate commodities labor is a sentient social force that proactively shapes the conditions under which it is used. In a very accessible first chapter, “A Resource unlike Any Other,” Herod grounds this key observation about the distinctive character of labor in a discussion of Marxian political economy. Along with numerous observations about the category of labor in an analysis of capitalist production, he uses this theoretical enquiry to formulate an especially succinct definition of the dialectic at the core of labor geography, writing that “labor’s geographical situation shapes its potential for economic and political praxis, but that, concomitantly, working people’s economic and political praxis shapes their geographical situation” (19).The chapters that follow empirically sketch broad sweeps of history to illustrate both labor’s embeddedness in geographic structures and its ability to shape those configurations. Looking closely at different forms of forced and voluntary migration—from the “coolie trade” of the nineteenth century to contemporary rural-to-urban migration in China—Herod shows how large dynamics such as colonialism and, later, foreign direct investment regimes shape the uneven development of labor over time and space. No doubt, some historians will find these sections overly schematic, and they may very well judge the patterns that Herod discerns to be lacking in historical nuance. But students from a range of disciplines will grasp these lucid examples and come to understand both the workings of the geographic imagination and the importance of spatiality to an analysis of labor and migration.Indeed, this is a volume intended for a general audience; along with the other publications in Polity’s series it is best thought of as a handbook or resource guide. Herod’s ability to convey in clear terms the concepts that lie behind his analysis is a signal strength of his writing. This is evident in the chapters that make up the last third of the book. These concentrate on the present global economic conjuncture, and because of this present-day focus these sections are likely to concern (and distress) traditional historians less than the handling of nineteenth-and early twentieth-century material. Herod explores the various forms of precarious work and labor market insecurity that char-acterize today’s global economy. The scope here is truly global, ranging from call centers in Bangalore to smartphone assembly in China’s Pearl River Delta, from janitors in Los Angeles to child cocoa workers on Ghanaian plantations. Herod carefully discusses and analyzes new forms of organization and management such as “fly in fly out” mining operations in Western Australia, showing how the spatial dispersal of labor and the weakening of geographically fixed cultural institutions present new challenges for union organizers. Elsewhere he explores maritime labor practices under the system of “flags of convenience” ship registries, showing how this legal regime has essentially created a permanent nationless seafaring proletariat that is the backbone of the modern seafood industry. Without recourse to basic rights and protections, these workers, rather than representing a vanguard of the so-called new economy, hearken back to a much earlier and more rapacious era of capitalism.The book’s final section is a partisan one that makes clear (if there was any earlier doubt) that the project of labor geography is committed to enhancing workers’ agency and using that power to create a more equitable economic system. Some of this material will not be new to historians and scholars in labor studies who for years have been concerned with the way that the changing economic environment shaped different organizational forms—craft unionism, industrial unionism, and so on. But when Herod turns to examine current strategies pursued by globally linked labor movements, the story is a fresh and compelling one rendered in an exciting way. Again, students and general readers are clearly the targeted audience—and this section will be brilliant when used in the classroom, study group, or union hall. Moreover, the concluding part of the book, entitled “Workers Fight Back,” is critical in illustrating Herod’s main theoretical contention about labor as not just another input into a global capitalist system. Here, more than in any other part of the book, workers appear as “subjects of their own histories and geographies” (170) struggling to carve out livelihoods and secure a modicum of dignity amidst global supply chains, gig economies, and the onslaught of automation.

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